The Emory Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC) provides Georgia and surrounding states with outstanding clinical, research, and educational programs. The ADC emphasis on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is influenced by shared interests in: i) multi-cultural issues in dementia;ii) the clinical spectrum of MCI;and iii) the role of sleep disorders in neurodegeneration. The ADC Cores (Clinical, Neuropathology, Education,also Data Management) build on renowned clinical programs and cutting-edge research. Convergent local developments bring remarkable growth to the ADC, including: one of the nation's fastest growing research enterprises;new leadership focused on neurodegeneration in the Department of Neurology, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease, and Yerkes National Primate Center;outstanding institutional support;close collaborations with the Emory-NIEHS Parkinson's Disease Center and the Center for Health in Aging;a unique industry partnership with deCODE Genetics to discover new susceptibility genes;outstanding clinical programs with a large and diverse patient populations at Wesley Woods Center and Grady Memorial Hospital, with the latter providing services and research opportunities for a predominantly African-American population;and a partnership with Dr. Bernardino Ghetti (Indiana ADC) to jointly operate the Neuropathology Core and enhance research at both institutions. Three cutting edge research projects are closely integrated with ADC Cores: Project 1 (Dr. Stuart Zola) adapts novel, highly sensitive memory tasks developed in non-human primates to ADC Clinical Core subjects;Project 2 (Dr. Allan Levey) tests the association of novel candidate genes for AD and PD, discovered in Iceland, in ADC Clinical Core subjects;and Project 3 (Dr. Junmin Peng) applies state-of-the-art proteomics technologies to MCI, AD, and PD brains characterized in the Neuropathology Core. Collectively, these projects span clinical, translational, and basic research and will advance our understanding of MCI, AD, PD, and related disorders.